In the Footsteps of Literature

Our literature is like our people: most of it is planted in lands of the exile, and just a few seedlings, which have not yet developed, whose quality cannot be discussed, have begun to flourish in our land.

In the exile, the place where our literature sprouted, it cannot ultimately be fruitful and multiply naturally and perpetually.

The reasons? Who does not know them? The Exile . . . an alien environment, and its prevailing language. The various influences from every side and in every instance from the outside, the material and spiritual depression—all of these interfere with our national life and with the development of the national literature and language.

Few are the readers of Hebrew. There are many Jewish readers; the authors of Germany have already agreed that German literature is greatly supported by the Jewish readers in their country—for are we not the People of the Book?—but we read in seventy languages, and only very little in our Hebrew language, very little indeed.

If we need evidence of this, there are two daily newspapers [in Hebrew], one weekly, and one monthly for a community of six million souls in Russia, testifying to how paltry the number of Hebrew readers is.

The small number of readers of course results in just a small number of writers, for “to whom will they speak and preach?” And few, very few, among us—the educated and the skilled—prepare themselves and devote their time to Hebrew literature. Most of our good authors are merely guests in the “temple of literature,” worthy and important guests—but only guests who are insufficient to repair the House (2 Kings 22:5), to renew, and improve it. Today the author is in the temple of literature, and tomorrow he is in the marketplace of life and its concerns. Literature does not provide a livelihood for him, and making a living removes him from the world of literature.

And in our Land—there are indeed many Hebrew readers proportionate to the community as a whole, but this community is small and few . . .

The public is what sustains literature, and only if the audience of Hebrew readers expands in the exile, and if the settlement in the Land develops and increases as well—only then can our literature also expand and develop with its full might.

And this hope has a basis!

In our country the audience of Hebrew readers is expanding: every Jew who comes to the Land immediately enters a Hebrew environment, a place where Hebrew speech is heard, a place where the Hebrew book is read, and the education and learning of his sons is almost entirely in Hebrew.

Also abroad, among the younger generation a certain drawing-near to Hebrew literature can be detected. The various organizations that are established in many cities for spreading Hebrew speech and knowledge of the Hebrew language, “The General Hebrew Organization,” the establishment of the Teḥiyah [Resurrection] publishing house, which have also cast their nets in Germany and America—all of these are signs of the resurrection of Hebrew literature. [ . . . ]

New Books

Of the new books that have come out recently—except for those that are published regularly, such as the books in The Great Library of [the] Tushiyah [publishing house] suitable for young readers to be discussed later—for the moment we will mention the most important ones.

1. The second volume of the great Hebrew dictionary by E. Ben Yehuda has just been published.¹

Also in this volume, according to the critics, is seen “the author’s enormous diligence and great industry as evident, for he hardly omitted a single book of Hebrew literature, regardless of its value—without examining it and extracting its irregular words. Ben-Yehuda not only provides us with the Hebrew words of our time but also of all times, for every period had a particular Hebrew style and vocabulary, and unique characteristic expressions. In Ben-Yehuda’s dictionary we see for the first time the great richness of the Hebrew language and the spectrums of Hebrew style, so that in truth one may say that this dictionary is a kind of ingathering of the exiles of the foundations of the Hebrew language, which are dispersed and scattered in our great literature, in old and worn-out books. And it goes without saying, that such a dictionary can enrich the Hebrew language of the present and influence the style of the new authors.”²

For our part we note that the “ingathering of exiles” of Hebrew words is a great principle of the realization of Hebrew speech, which Ben-Yehuda began. Spoken Hebrew is increasingly present in our lives—especially in our country—and is no longer an idea. The use of the large vocabulary contained in our ancient literatures will strengthen our language and expand it, giving new life to its vernacular use. [ . . . ]

3. And finally, the best of all, the second volume of the collected writings of Reb Mendele, long may he live,³ which has just appeared. The famous stories are included: “My Mare,” “The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third,” [and] “In Those Bygone Days.” The innovation in this volume is the fine introduction by our author, David Frishman, in which our astute critic has provided a literary evaluation of Mendele. This could well be the finest and most appropriate article every written on this masterful author.

The three stories themselves that appear in this volume are among the best of the creations of Reb Mendele’s spirit:

“My Mare”—this allegory, which was first written in Yiddish, and translated by a Polish author who learned that language especially to translate this work. This story is a kind of Song of Songs, which can be interpreted in manifold ways [pardes (exegetical approaches)], for it has meanings within meanings. The story in itself is pleasant and beautiful in its descriptions of characters; the deep ideas hidden within it are even more beautiful, and finer than both of these are the wonderful depictions of nature—“true pearls of pure poetry.” In this story we hear the voice of a free Jew who demands, with fire on his lips, with a tempestuous and teeming heart, the right to live the life that his oppressors have robbed him of—he demands these rights because he is a human being, and not only to help others. And more important than addressing this demand to the outside world, toward the oppressors, is relaying it, inwardly to ourselves, to show the oppressed themselves. As Ahad Ha-Am says, “so that our value will not be low in our own eyes, and that we should not think that in truth we are worse than any people under the sun.” So that we will know how to stand up for our rights and advance our case at all times, whenever we can. And the Hebrew “My Mare” is certainly capable of implanting in our hearts awareness of the injustice that is the denial of our rights, and arouse someone to protest against the insult to our humanity, and to demand it from others as well as from himself . . . [ . . . ]

And scenes of Russian nature. Reb Mendele converts them to Judaism and gives them a true Hebrew quality. The sights of nature—they are the sights of our eyes. And the stories of Mendele observe through the eyes of the most “Jewish of Jews”—and Russian nature also looks Jewish . . . the Jewish youth interrupts his study, thinks, and says: How beautiful the world is! He walks in the fields and forests, the mountains and valleys, and sneaks out of his room and walks like a groom toward his bride, to take pleasure in the brilliance of nature. This comely lady smiles at him, speaks to him from among the whispering sheaves of grain, wheat, and barley, motions to him with the movements of the branches of the trees and strips of light, that breaks through the thickets of the forest, and continues on forever. Glory and splendor are laid upon him. He lies upon grass carpets, and an embroidered moss pillow is under his head. She fans him with a gentle breeze, rustles his hair, and kisses him, and performs a festive dance before him. The nightingale raises its voice marvelously and a chorus of songbirds answer it, some with chirps, some with whistles, some with a delicate melody of a violin, some with the bellow of an accordion, and some with a trumpeting fanfare, and also the bleating of the sheep, the neighing of horses, and the mooing of cattle is heard among them. Birds set out to dance on the trees, butterflies decorated with precious onyx and colors flutter and dance in the light, and the cricket and grasshopper dance in the straw on the ground. Gladness and joy, beauty and pleasure in our world!

Happy is the nation and happy is nature for one who understands and explains to them their surroundings, and when will the beautiful and pleasant nature of our land merit a maven and explainer such as Reb Mendele?

A Teacher